Apparatus for recording the direction and speed of fluid currents



June 28, 1932. J, M. P. IDRAC 1,865,373

' APPARATUS FOR RECORDING THE DIRECTION AND SPEED QR FLUID CURRENTS Filed Kay 24, 1928 0 I 20:: 4 5: sw Nw NE mumnuuuuuuni ,Zm en Patented June 28, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT? OFFICE j m PIERRE IDMCfOF PARIS, FRANCE APPARATUS RECORDING TEE DIRECTION AN D SPEED 01 FLUID comma Application filed *ay 84, 1928, Serial No. 280,888, and in Belgium June 1, 1927.

The present invention relates to apparatus I for registering the movements of a rotating 5; class adapted for recor way of example shows various embodiments wise axial section and a cross element, and it relates more particul-arl though not exclusively to apparatus 0 this ing the direction and speed of fluid currents.

The said invention consists chiefly in arranging the said apparatus in such manner that it will comprise the following parts.

The apparatus comprises one or more movable indicating members which are movable in aplane and are actuated by a rotatin element, and which are adapted to ro uce, when photographed, an image whic is distinguished from the back ground of the photograph. An 0 aque screen is placed arallel with the said p ane, and it has a suita ly disposed slit. The apparatus further comprises abphotographic arrangement having a mova e tinuous recording of the position in the rear of the said slit, of the said movable indicating number, whereby the osition of the axis of the rotating element Wlll. be recorded.

In addition to the aforesaid general arrangement, the apparatus comprises certain other dispositions which may be usedaccording to circumstances and which will be further described, and chiefly of a second arrangement which is exclusively ada ted for use in apparatus for registering the irection and speed of fluid currents. For this purpose, I combine with the apparatus of the above-mentioned class, suitable means for recording the temperature of the said currents, and I employ in said apparatus a photographic device adapted for the simultaneous recordin on a sing e surface of the data relative to t c direction, s eed and temperature of the current under 0 servation.

The followin description with reference to the appende drawing which is given by of the invention.

Figures 1 and 2 arerespectively a lengthsection on the line 2+2 of Figure 1, of an a paratus for measuring and recording the irection and the speed of submarine 'currents, accordin to the invention. Figure shows a modifie sensitive member disposed for the conform of the "compass dial, employed in a 'grapJhic record obtained with an apparatus com ined with an instrument analogous to the one shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Figure 5 shows a movable scale for the determination of certain characteristics of the photographic record shown in Figure 4.

In a form of construction which is chiefly applicable to the registerin of the speed of submarine currents, the sai apparatus may comprise the following parts.

The case a is hermetlcally closed by a cover a, and in which are disposed the different arts which will be herein after more explicitly described and which provide for the automatic registering, by means of photography, of the desired indications: said box has preferably the form of a vertical tube, closed at both ends, the thicknessof the walls being suflicient -to resist high pressures.

- The element such as a vane wheel b is discase a and is rotated by the current at'a speed which is a known function of the speed of said current; the motion of the said element is imparted through the worm b to a worm wheel 6 which opens or closes the circuit for the intermittent lighting of a reflecting plate adapted to act upon a traveling sensitive band of a photographic apparatus, as will be further specified; the speed of rotation of the worm wheel I) is therefore a known function of the speed of the fluid current which acts upon the vane wheel 6.

Means are provided for turning the main axial plane of the apparatus passing through the longitudinal axis b of the vane wheel 6, parallel with the axis of the current, and said means may consist of a conduit 0 having a ar consists of two perforated faces 0 forming a or vertical dihedral angle of suitable valve instance 90), whilst the perforated wall 0' through which the current issues from the apparatus may be placed across the said conduit.

cord of relatively great length for instance- 5 to 6 meters).

Suitable means (not shown) are provided for connecting the apparatus with a cable or the like, whereby it'may be immersed to the depth which is to be explored.

In the interior of the box is disposed a photographic apparatus for recording the indications of the speed and direction of the fluid current upon the sensitive band. The said apparatus is properly mounted and suitably constructed, for instance as shown in the drawin and in the known manner; the apparatus t uscomprises the chamber a, the lens e and a rotatable support 6 provided with clockwork, for displacmg the sensitive band 0 in a continuous manner, and I dispose, according to the invention, between the lens a and the support a a screen e in which is formed the slot (2 which is erpendicular to the direction of travel of the band and is situated on the axis of the optical system e.

In the said case is further disposed the compass f which is preferably astatic and is provided with liquid damping; the face of said compass is placed opposite the said lens 6 and carries indications corres onding to the principal compass joints, said indications being such that they will form images of a difi'erent character upon the sensitive band, and for this purpose the said indications may consist of a certain number of radial lines; for instance a single'line represents the east, two parallel lines south, three lines west and four lines north. The dial of the said compass is constantly lighted by a lamp h sup: plied with current from a suitable source such as a storage battery c'. To provide for the photographing of the indications showing the direction of the instrument relatively to the compass frame, the optical axis of the lens is disposed in the main axial plane of the instrument and is turned towards the part of the compass which is lighted by the amp h, and said axis (Figure 1) may be suitably inclined from the longitudinal axis of the instrument, or may be parallel therewith, and in the latter case it may be 8 aced from the said longitudinal axis by a sultable distance which can be readily determined by experience.

The case of the instrument further contains a reflecting surface 7', for instance a metal plate coated with a white substance, and covering the lateral part of the dial with the circuit of the said lampsupplie sitive film,

reference toits main axial plane, in such manner that the said plate, or at least a art of it, will be situated in the field of the ens and that when the said plate is intermittently lighted it will act upon the sensitive band of the photographic ap aratus, and will thus register a hne upon t e said band at each illumination of the said plate. The intermittent lighting'b means of the electric lamp being control ed by the gear wheel 6 actuated by the vane wheel .6. For this urpose,

d by any suitable source and preferably a storage battery i-comprises an automatic contactdevice whereo one of the o rative elements such as the contact iece Z is mounted on the wheel 6 and insulated therefrom, and the other operative element, such as a fixed contact plate I, is adapted to make contact with the said contact piece at each revolution of the wheel 6'; the contact piece I is connected with one terminal of the storage battery and the lamp k is placed in the clrcuit, as well as the. switch m, thus connecting the contact plate I with the other terminal of the batterlyhz.

e functioning of the entire apparatus is as follows.

The apparatus is sup osed to be immersed in a current of .water w ose speed and direction are to be found. The lamp h lights the compass dial in a continuous manner, and the lamp is is temporarily extinguished. A senplaper band or the like, is placed on the perip ery of the rotating drum e.

The vane wheel 6 is rotated by the current of water, and the apparatus will automatically turn into such a position that its longitudlnal axial plane is parallel with the flow of the current. Due to the rotation of the wheel b ,'the lamp in is lighted for the proper time so that the image of a portion of the plate j will be produced on the sensitive band 1n the form of a line a: (Figure 4) due to the interposed screen e containing the slit e.

The series of lines thus formed will afford means for determining the speed of the current, and such lines will be more closely spaced accordin as the speed of the current is greater, so t at I may readily find this speed, for instance in knots, per unit of time, for example per hour, by orming upon a movable scale (Fig. 5), preferably transparent, a graduated part y according to the time -which depends essentially upon the speed with which the sensitive band moves before the lens-and I thus place the said scale upon the band after it has been developed and fixed, for the direct and ready determination of the speed of the current during a given time.

' The data relative to the orientation of the apparatus are shown on the sensitive band in the form of one or more continuous lines extending upon the whole width of the band In the example shown in Figure. 4, the in the part graphic apparatus wi sai orientations indicated corres n z to the south direction, an in the part a to the east direction.

Furthermore, the relative position of the lines a or z relatively to the width of the band indicates the deviation of the instru ment with reference to the rincipal directions above mentioned, and said deviation ac- .cording as the marks on the compass dial are more or less spaced from the centre of the axis of. the optical of the photocause the images of marks to be, more or less spaced from the longitudinal axis of the sensitive band.

The maximum spacingl is about 45 in either direction, an at e time when view of these lines, for instance z, leaves the op tical field of the apparatus, the other line, for instance 2' will enter this field.

Bly the use of the scales shown in Figure 5, may thus find the exact orientation of the instrument, by measuri the distance between the line 2 (or a) and the middle line of the band, which corresponds to the zero of the scale.

In a modification of the compass dial, I give to the marks the form of one or more arcs of a s iral, as shown in Figure 2'. The origin of t e are of the spiral is, for instance at the point A corresponding to the north, and the end B is in t e same direction but corresponds to a 360 rotation of the a aratus. Since the len of the vector is at each point a function of the angle formed, the orientation of the apparatus will be automatically given by the position, on the band, of the pro ection of the point M, so that the variations in the direction of the a paratus will be recorded in the form of a straight line.

The operation will thus be as above stated, or I may preferably add the following device, which may be used separately if necesizith' an apparatus for recording the direc- Thestationerysup rtoiasuitabl mounted diheugaged in conduit of two inth lelsidcaseanm a mm 1" u: we:

'rectly by means of an a smallsiaeis allymllunt-v plified by set oflevers g and are recorded h the pointed t'-upon a sheet 0 paper or the like 1 which may be coated with lampblatk; said sheet may be mounted on a drum a which is driven by clockwor and the records are preferably made at esametimeasthe recordsmade by means of a fixed marking point t mounted on the stationary support 0.

The recordson thesheetrmaybereaddior after removin the sheet from drum, but I refer to isposethesaidsheetsothatit be situated in the field oftheph hiclens e,orthatits' willbe vn insuch manner that it will be projected upon the senfiitive band a. ml bed aving now parti l descri m invention and in what manngr the same is t o be performed, I claim as my invention:

1. In an apparatus d for'reco the characteristics of ocean currents, a cl housing adapted to withstand high 7 an orienting tail member upon housing, a continuously unwinding photo phic film in said housing, a phototigaphic $5, a fixed disc having an opening rein, said opening beingarranged so as tofiplil'loduce impressions upon the photographs: said impressions being upon the one d the dial of a compass and upon the other hand a surface illuminated intermittently, and a screw propeller upon said housing positioned in the current, an interrupter operated by said screw ro er and said interrupter accomplishing e mtermittent illumination. i

2. In an apparatus according toclaim 1 the arrangement of therecording elements in the interior of a tight box, vertically suspended the screw-like propeller wheel being a beyond the tight box and having its shaft horizontal. I

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this s Ill 

